Both are beautiful kits and I am combining them because they have the same stone work courses. Ware Knitters and Treadwell are quite small so this gives a larger mill complex.

I dug out the base. The competition says that you can't have started the structures yet, which I haven't, but I did build all three diorama bases several years ago to ensure that they fitted in the layout spot. For those of you with long memories, 4 years ago I posted this: http://www.kathymillatt.co.uk/blog/2010 ... -dioramas/

I got the kit boxes out (for all three dioramas) and spent half the weekend scratching my head over how to fit it into the space I have given that all three dioramas will be built to fit in the same space with the same fascia profile. It doesn't actually work as originally planned so everything is moving half an inch or so.

Work on the structure will start after 1st December but I think I will be spending all that time trying to get the jigsaw puzzle to work!

In a fit of enthusiasm on Monday night, I got going on my structure. The first stage to any big South River kit is preparing the castings. They are always excellent quality so a light sanding on the back and sides is enough. I write the part number on the back so I can tell which is which when gluing them together.

The big task is opening the windows out to allow the interior to show through. You can just paint them black but I'd like to detail an interior.

You soak the casting with water to help and just cut out the window casting. They're left in for strength when being packed but come out quite easily.

They look really good when done.

There's quite a few to do! When I turned the first one over I realised I had just cut out the casting part number I had written on the back... oh well.

Well, I did the one thing you hate doing with a hydrocal kit, I dropped a piece! All is not lost as they glue back together quite easily with hardly a joint. Not my first accident!

I started on Friday by spraying the prepared castings with Halfords grey primer.

The trick is knowing when to assemble the pieces. Bob VG assembles, fills the joints and then paints. I hate doing fiddly window bits after assembly so I painted the windows before assembly.

There are a lot. It takes a few seconds to type but an evening and morning to paint and that's only the first coat. It's interesting that wooden kits are so much quicker because you can spray every colour separately and then assemble the pieces.

I tacked the plastic window inserts, with masking tape, to a piece of cardboard.

There are etched brass trims for the doors which Bob VG tells you to scratch for grain and mark the wood joints on.

The Ware etched brass came with etched grain. It's quite heavy so we'll see which looks best.

I then painted them with Halfords White primer. It's not the best paint but the slightly off look works for older buildings.

The walls sit on a 1/4" wood strip base. Of course I used the base plan, glued them down and when I test fit the walls, remembered that the plan was wrong by 1/2". Doh.

I glued the first three walls as they all have the same base level.

When I was fitting the last wall, it somehow slipped. Oooops.

Thankfully it's not the first time I've had a cracked wall. They sometimes break in shipping too. A few minutes later it looked like this but I did have a break to throw some ground foam around in the loft to steady my nerves.

When I returned, I flipped the windows and painted the back side.

I also assembled the spare brick building. It will go somewhere and it's easier to do it whilst I have the instructions and plans out.

I always use white glue to assemble as it gives you time to wiggle the castings. Both the buildings have odd levels. I used piles of business cards to create a firm base for the big mill whilst gluing as it rests on the canal walls. It seems a couple out in level so I will either sand the walls or, more likely, slip some business cards underneath. This smaller building stumped me until I realised I had forgotten to put the 1/4" wood strips underneath. Thankfully the glue hadn't set.

I want to put an interior in the mill so I knocked up some floors from card, braced the edges and then sprayed them both sides with white to seal them.

At the same time I sprayed some pillars green. I do need to do the wooden floors so I'll either use stained balsa wood or print some wood colour up. I have a few bits for the interior to give it substance but need to work on it.

I sprayed the inside white for the interior walls but should have been a bit less heavy handed. The paint is always a bit thin but it ran through in some places. Good thing I still have to paint the walls stone colour.

At this point I went to see Paddington at the cinema. Well worth a view as it was funny. I got back and did a couple more hours. After not modelling for months, I'm on a roll.

I filled the gaps and having spread the putty all over the place in the past, filling all the lovely brick mortar lines, this time I used a trick I had seen and masked a small strip only. It keeps the putty under control. I use a Deluxe Materials acrylic putty and it thins nicely with water.

Afterwards I resprayed the walls with the grey primer and used a simple paper mask to keep it off the windows. It's not perfect but I'll see what it's like in daylight in the morning.

Finally I started on Ware. I just glued the bracing on. Vital on any piece of card in a kit.

I used my secret weapon to keep everything flat. A brick.

I think that's enough for one day and I needed my sleep but here's a couple if mill photos to show the colour scheme on the stone that I'm aiming for:

I started off Sunday afternoon by gluing Ware together.

I wasn't too happy with the joints so I added more putty. Bob's instructions recommend filling every other one as well as the joint, which I did. I'm still not uber happy with the result.

I assembled the annex but didn't attach it to the main building as it seemed a bit unwieldy for painting. You can see the refilled joints look a little better.

I sprayed a light White Halfords primer coat on the buildings as the grey is a bit dark. Still not sure about those joints.

Then it was on to painting. The key tools are a reference photo, paint and brushes/sponges.

The first coat was a quick splodge of Tamiya wooden deck tan. It masks the joints a bit.

This has not been a great joint. For a start the annex building is U-shaped which is stressy on joints but the base is not even either as two walls sit on the higher canal walls. I added some wood braces and disused the joint with superphatic glue. Next morning it was rock solid.

It's been a busy week on the run up to Christmas. We realised the Hobbit is out on Friday so fitted in 8 hours of the 3D versions of the first two films, plus a meal out and Pilates. I did find time on Monday night to mock up the diorama whilst I was waiting for the decorator. I'm not sure whether the brick building or the concrete block extension will make it on. Probably not.

I'm a bit of a dabbler when it comes to painting, especially something as varied as stone. I'll do a number mber of coats of different colours and different types of paint. Last night I used some Vallejo Buff dabbed on with a brush followed by a coat of Mig Wash in Sand.

The buildings are beginning to look better but still some way to go.

Two of these have not had the second coat yet. You can see the difference the wash makes in tying things together. It also sits in the cracks which helps as they were very grey.

It's lovely to have a few days off and get some modelling in. I'm feeling better so modelling is great recuperation...

I've lost track of all I've been up to but I've been cracking on through Treadwell and Ware.

I put the canal walls in place and glued them in.

They sit under the main mill building.

I put the walls under the ell too. It's a bit wonky do they are too to match.

I had to chop the near wall off to fit on. That'll be a useful spare bit of wall left over.

The mill has an outflow for the mill race that comes out in a circular hole. It has a gate that can be opened and closed. Bob VG modelled it closed but I fancied a bit of gushing water. There are NBWs on the outside.

I put it in place. The wall was a bit high and I was bored of cutting foam so I melted it with ambroid, a solvent. I propped the walls with squares whilst the glue was drying.

I put a piece of card coloured black behind to block the blue out.

I'd not cut the dam so I must do that soon but first I put on a coat of Tamiya Buff.

Here's the first coat. More work is needed. That's the piece of card too.

The good thing about large kits is that whilst one thing is drying you can be doing something else.

I have also been doing interiors. Ware has a raised floor with a basement so I put the floor in, added walls and interior doors where needed.

The brick extension and concrete extension interiors also got done. This is the concrete interior with a back wall. I used some cheap plastic doors I had knocking about from an old kit.

This is the final result.

I put blobs of glue over the LEDs that I'm using. They're 1.4mm x 1mm so I now buy the pre-wired versions. So much easier.

I bought some jewellery thingymajigs in the U.S. which I'm using as lightshades. I painted the interiors white and left the outsides in the bronze colour they came in.

Because I'm doing interiors with lights, it's always good to make the roof removable. I braced the apex of the main roof with some card off cuts and then trimmed it as per the instructions with wood.

I always prepaint the strip wood in batches.

The roof underside is trimmed and there are eaves returns. The eaves wood trim is glued to the building and the rest is removable.

There's so much strip wood that I keep a running total of how many pieces are left.

The next thing up was the dormers. There are fronts and sides. The sides are clapboard which Bob VG uses the best technique ever to weather. Rubber cement such as Copydex smeared on with a cocktail stick. I painted a sudgy grey base coat over the top.

I then used masking tape to pull the rubber cement off.

I would normally colour the wood first but I was being adventurous so I stripped the paint off and then weathered it with Mig Aged Wood wash.

It dries ok:

I trimmed the dormer fronts (don't worry, the white will weather down).

And then added the corner posts. I sand a lot of the corners to just even up things but you can see the difference it makes here.

Bob VG says to glue the fronts in place on the roof and line them up. Then to put the sides in place. I did that. It didn't work. I think the important thing is if something isn't working for you then stop and try it a different way. This wasn't working, the dormers were sanded to a 45 degree angle but it just wasn't lining up. I ripped them off and am trying a different method.

It left a few rips and tears but I'm much happier.

The mess afterwards:

Quite a few bits were broken but nothing that glue couldn't fix. I sanded off any dried glue and went to plan B: gluing the dormers together on the worktop and then installing them.

When they are rock solid I will sand the bottoms on line with each other.

I added the dormers in and managed some Christmas shopping too. Not too much.

I much preferred doing the dormers this way.

They line up really nicely.

I added in a grey/black interior so it wouldn't show through the glass windows.

Next up were the roofs:

I realised that I hadn't put the windows in. Not sure where that was in the instructions.

I trimmed them out and then weathered them with a Mig Cold Grey wash. The one on the right has been weathered.

Here they are finished for the day.

Next up was more or less the same for the cupola. I'm not quite done yet.

This modelling can be hazardous for your help. Every time I glue something I open my glue bottle like this:

It's a new year but the modelling continues. I'm still working on the diorama but have moved on to the Ware building.

I put some glue blobs over the LEDs and glued lamp shades in place.

I then glued the LEDs in place on the inside of the roofs.

I've put some rough bits of plastic into the extensions to give them some life. You can peek through the windows and see furniture. It's difficult to take photos though!

These are some of the castings I'm painting. Not sure what to do for the inside of the mills yet.

I finished off the cupola.

And then glued it in place.

The Ware roof has loads of clerestories. It starts with a piece of card and loads of instructions!

There are some laser cut pieces which are scored to represent planks, braced,

And put under a brick to dry.

I did the same treatment as with the Treadwell dormers. They needed sanding at the top to the 45 degree angle. I started the painting with Copydex and then painted with the grey mix of Vallejo white and black grey.

When it was touch dry, I used masking tape to remove the Copydex.

Finally, I used the Mig Aged Wood wash.

I like how it dries.

The clerestory sides are made from card with laser cut square shingles to represent asbestos.

The shingles are attached to the back using a glue tape. It's pure glue and very easy to use for shingling.

You then turn it over and cut the triangles out. I labelled the backs as the two sides are opposite!

I assembled the clerestory on the worktop ensuring it was square and lined up, added the windows and trim then sides. Each clerestory then slots into a hole in the roof.

I added the roofs and then trimmed the clerestories with two layers of strip wood glued together, painted and then cut to length.

Finally, I put some neodymium magnets in place to hold the roof down. It's still a bit rocky so I'll have to check again in the morning.

The slow points in most of my builds are the interior and the roofs.

I finished off my holiday roofing and have been doing a few strips of shingles every night.

First off I had to tidy the roofs up. There was a slight gap underneath and the roof was just rocking slightly.

A bit of judicial trimming of the interior walls and clerestories helped. I then added strips of HO 2" x 12" wood painted white underneath the eaves. 45 degree corner cuts make it all neat. It adds a small extra big of depth which was all that was needed to cover the gap but also seats the roof exactly making it a much more robust fit.

You can see that the roof is not square with the wood. This is partly because the buildings are not quite square but this helps line everything up.

I did the same for the brick extension but used scale 8" for the outer strip.

I cut eaves ends by measuring the two pieces of 2" x 12" wood.

The instructions specify cutting a shape at the end. The pieces are so small that I just didn't bother.

The trim is made up of pieces of 1" x 4", 1" x 6" and 1" x 8" pieces of wood glued together then cut to fit. I filed every corner smooth.

You can see the eaves ends in place.

I also did the concrete extension even though I probably won't use it. It will be a nice extra at some point.

I glued some interior lights in place. It looks globby but you don't see the ceiling.

This is the final roof interior. I do like it!

The Ware sections are roofed with tarpaper. Most mills seem to have flat roofs so it looks prototypical. The black paper comes with the kit and is cut into 3' strips.

There's a few sections where shingling up the dormers made the slates go out of sync. I ended up putting some half shingles here which I hadn't needed on the half of the roof. Hopefully it won't show when painted up. Some of the ridge tiles have lifted a bit. We'll see if it settles down.

It is common, and Bob VG recommends, to colour the shingles with felt tip pens.

I used a grey shade first.

Then I used two brown shades.

I then used a much darker brown shade.

I wasn't happy with the result. The colour lacks the depth of reality. So I thought I would try a few coats of enamel washes to unify the colour and tie everything together

I masked the windows and then sprayed the roof with a liberal coat of Dullcote.

I used a Mig Neutral wash first. You can see it on the right of the roof.

It's a step in the right direction when you compare the depth it gives but I still wasn't happy.

Each individual slate has a small bit of pale grey where it goes under the slates above. I really should have coloured the slates before laying them.

I tried a black wash to see if that would help. The wash creeps under the tiles but is so thin that it doesn't sit there.

I'm waiting for it to dry and then I'll try an acrylic wash. The pigments are bigger so may stay in the cracks better.

I've been thinking about the BR challenge which I'm building this for. It would normally take me 6 months to do a diorama like this and the challenge takes 3 months. I knew when I started that it would be close but with Christmas I was hopeful. It's now January and I know that with the Half Year BOD meeting and other commitments that it's unlikely I will finish by the deadline.

After last year, when I was challenged to finish stuff for my MMR and wound up modelling when I really didn't want to, I burnt out and gave up modelling for 8 months. I'm therefore very keen that I just pootle on modelling as and when I enjoy it.

I am someone who needs deadlines to be motivated but if my hobby becomes too driven, it becomes a chore rather than a joy. I model for fun not work. I love being engrossed in something that uses completely different skills and thought processes to my day job.

That's a long winded way of saying that this may not be finished by 1st March but it will get done. Then I can get on with a bit of TLC on my layout and, of course, Optimus Prime!

I wanted more depth to the colours so I added a wash of Tamiya Green Black diluted with water.

The roof is a bit too green but I like the depth I'm now getting.

I followed it up with a Mig Neutral wash.

The ridge tiles have been bothering me. They are too even and a bit large. Hmmmm. I added dark lines and some colours with felt tip pens.

I wanted to add some mottling and lichen. I used Ash White Mig pigments with green, yellow and white Vallejo paints.

I splodged it on a section and it was too stark (top right) and then used the neutral wash to tone it back down a bit (middle right).

Here's what it looks like after the was. I did the whole roof. I do like it. It suits the building colours better.

I'm letting it all dry so I moved it on to the "L".

There's another dormer on the side.

The one end has no supports so there is a brace for the walls and the roof section. I wish I had read on to this because I've already added my own braces. I did find the walls shifted when I had the problems with the loose joint. My "L" is not square. Oops. I added the roof brace before I realised how wonky it was...

There's a gap to the right of the front roof.

I put some cardboard in the gap and had to move the dormer gap to the right a bit too

I added some bracing at the other end of the building too because the roof is removable and I want to keep the roof angle. I eventually trimmed the internal brace so you can get roof on and off when the building is glued in place

I put the standard 2" x 12" wood and trimmed the roof to match.

I added in the roof joist too. It acts as a mask of any gaps, phew. Finally, I put a magnet under one corner to hold it down.

I built all my buildings over the templates (square ones!). However, none of my buildings are quite straight (apart from the main building). I think I know why.

Ware was ok until I tried to fit the brick extension in. That caused the one side to be slightly longer. With hindsight, I should have either cut down the brick template or added a piece of wood shim on the other side to even it out.

The L was built over the canal walls and I swear it was square when I first glued it. There's actually a square back brace but that isn't mentioned until many pages after the walls are glued. I normally read on but had missed this. Because one side wasn't braced the walls moved. I think when I glued it back I wasn't as straight as I thought I was. Because the bottom isn't level it makes it impossible to glue on the plan.

You can see how far out it is here when you see how I had to glue the canal walls which the L sits on.

Finally, The dormer roof doesn't quite cover the width of the dormer but I hope the trim will sort it out.

I left it setting with masking tape and a weight holding it down.

On top of that I knocked over a glass of my painting water and my tacky glue decided to dribble watery glue everywhere (apparently it has condensated and it all ran out). At this point I went out! It seemed safest.

On the plus side, my diorama is coming together and I don't think the slightly off walls will show. I won't tell if you don't!

I spent Saturday doing chores but managed to sneak in a few minutes. I'm doing the L interior.

I built a floor (not straight ) for the ground floor and painted it with a Mig Wash because I wanted the wood grain to show through. I also glued in a first floor - I'm not going to light this but it will allow me to put a box in the window and put a suggestion of use.

You can see the dormer gap now the masking tape is off. I will put the trim on and hope it covers it.

I've been working on the L since then too. I added in an attic floor and a few boxes as a view block. I'm not going to light this room so a suggestion of an interior is enough.

I glued the balsa wood ground floor in place.

And added a cardboard back wall. It was slightly warped so I put some hefty weights in place whilst it was drying. I've got a door to glue on the back wall too.

I cut the rafter tails at 45 degree angles. I set the 90 degree guide the correct distance from the blade and used the 45 degree guide with a wood spacer to guide the wood into the chopper. It worked much better than I expected!

I glued them to the wall, not the roof, as the roof is removable. Ideally I would have glued to both...

I added the left over trim I had from the main building. I had just enough. Lucky!

I did the dormer too. It helped fill in that gap!

I've left it gluing up overnight and will then employ my secret weapon for cutting the trim: nail clippers! They are much easier then a knife to trim ends.

I've been thinking about wiring up the module. The wiring will be from underneath so I need to get the wiring down to the bottom. It's easy to snag wires so I used a hot wire tool to cut a hole and then pushed a straw down to act as a smooth conduit.

I completed the L roof following my own blog post on the main mill roof. I didn't bother with quite so many pen colours as they don't show a lot. I also need to do the lichen but want to try a different technique.

I'm clearing off the last few tasks on the structures. First up was to build the link as the last building before I assemble the structures.

It's two wooden sides and a cardboard roof. I painted the laser cut walls with a Aged Wood Mig Wash, then put on rubber cement - Copydex, on the ridges before a slightly diluted coat of white Vallejo paint.

I peeled off the cement:

Then used a Cold Grey Mig Wash on top. I weathered some areas with a darker Mig Wash and some AK interactive slime colours:

Whilst I was at, I got organised and did the rest of the painted woodwork such as the covered stairs and porch canopy:

Finally I glued it in place. I left out the foundation stones that came with the kit out as my Ware knitters is lower than the brick building that the original plan joined onto:

I changed how I am going to wire the diorama with only one set of straws now coming up under Ware:

I cut a groove to channel the wires through under the buildings. My hot foam knife made this easy:

I soldered some connectors onto the wires and Ware's roof as it is removable:

Then used an airbrush to splatter the paint off a brush onto the roof. Jury's out on whether it looks as good as just splodging it on. More practice is needed! I've put another Mig wash on and will try again as I realise I forgot to put the pigments in.

I still have to do the lighting in the main building plus the flashing and valleys on the roofs. My decorator has taken over the kitchen and I have a lot on over the next few weeks so that's it on the structures before the end of February.